


On the Count of One

by notaverse



Category: Bandage (2010)
Genre: Character Study, F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2011-09-30
Updated: 2011-09-30
Packaged: 2017-10-24 05:07:20
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 806
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/259335
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/notaverse/pseuds/notaverse
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>In Natsu's world the music never stops.</p>
            </blockquote>





	On the Count of One

**Author's Note:**

  * For [adistantsun](https://archiveofourown.org/users/adistantsun/gifts).



> **Title:** On the Count of One  
>  **Fandom:** BANDAGE  
>  **Pairing:** Natsu/Asako  
>  **Rating:** G  
>  **Disclaimer:** Not mine, damnit

Natsu's world is a simple one. There's music, which encompasses almost everything else. Music covers all the joys and all the sorrows, takes him from one extreme to the other, won't leave him alone until he knows its form well enough to sculpt it in marble. Music is the keeper of his emotions, but it keeps his secrets too.

Music is also his livelihood, so it's directly responsible for such mundane things as food, rent, gas for his car, and even sex, since most of the girls he meets want him because he's in a band. He can make it through all these things without ever having to ignore the melody in his mind. Clinking glasses, the low rumble of an engine, the rustle of clothing slipping away from skin - all different notes, but part of the same tune.

There's even a kind of music in the dull, administrative tasks Yukari does so well, like booking studio time and arranging photoshoots. Yukari's a musician too, so everything she does has its own subtle melody. She doesn't play drums anymore but she plays _LANDS_ with a firm hand, Natsu most of all; if he can't keep his life in time she'll keep it for him, forcing him to march to the beat. Yukari is one of _them_.

Asako isn't. Asako comes from _outside_ , from a world where school nights still exist and the only way to see a live is to stand before the stage. She's a schoolgirl who feels the music but cannot produce it herself. She won't die without it, maybe not for a long time, but Natsu will. Strip the music from his soul and there will be nothing left but a corpse. That's not the only difference between them but it's the only one that matters.

Everything Natsu feels can be found in hastily scribbled sheets of music, in scraps of lyrics and strummed chords. It doesn't matter if the arrangement changes when he's done. The essence will be there; the others can do what they like with it after that. Music is never static, after all. It's a force of nature as much as a creation of man. It lives and breathes with a will of its own.

Which is why it's so jarring to Natsu to want Asako so badly. The two of them, they're not meant for a duet. Sooner or later Asako will bring disharmony to _LANDS_ and Natsu can't bring himself to think about it. She makes him wake up. He has to step outside his world of music, away from the safety of familiar sounds, force his mind to wrap itself around concepts he thought he'd never need to understand. It's never been important to make a good impression before. He's never thought about meeting parents, or worried about trying to make up after a fight. Why bother with a girl who can never really be with him anyway?

This is supposed to be the "real" world, one with rules and order, where everything makes sense and no one hears stray notes in the breeze. So why, Natsu wonders, does he find it so confusing? Harsh lights and stark colours scrape him raw, gravel sinking through his skin till it reaches his mind, building a wall to block out the music. This isn't a world one can navigate by instinct alone; it requires conscious thought, and Natsu's best thoughts are unconscious.

He can't stay there for too long. Every unwilling second is a struggle. If this is the love of a million love songs, will he have to become a permanent resident? Can he keep the music for work, filter it out for the rest of his life without losing himself in the process? He's not sure. There's too much to learn, too much to remember.

He can't settle down; wouldn't know how. He's never going to own a neat little house, complete with loving wife and kids and a respectable-looking car. Those things belong to someone else's fantasy, not his. In his world the music never stops. A single fingertap is merely the first beat.

Asako's world isn't for him, he knows that, and no matter how much time she spends with _LANDS_ , she can never really be part of his. Maybe that's for the best. Natsu's seen how relationships work - at least one person needs to have their feet on the ground; if both of them have their heads in the clouds they'll drift away without anything solid to cling to.

That's why he has to try, even if it's hopeless. He's clumsy and inarticulate when they're together, a ghost without his music, but if he can find a way to harmonise with her, maybe there's a chance to make the songs in his head resonate in her heart. He has nothing else to offer.

**Works inspired by this one:**

  * [On the Count of One [Podfic]](https://archiveofourown.org/works/411821) by [adistantsun](https://archiveofourown.org/users/adistantsun/pseuds/adistantsun)




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